Saga’s Back! Saga’s Back!

Oh happy day, Internet! After a summer hiatus that seemed comparable to a summer in Westeros, Saga has returned! Due to work schedules, I was unable to make it to the comics store until this morning. However, rolling up to the shop, screeching my chthonic bleats of delight, a Friday morning still held the same excitement as a busy Wednesday afternoon. I grabbed my pull (which also held East of West #5, Infinity #1, Watson & Holmes #2, and Mind The Gap #12 – holy frick I had a good pull) and skipped out of the store because SAGA IS BACK.

Issue 1 of Saga, featuring Alana & Marko and their baby Hazel

For those unfortunate enough to not know what Saga is let me help you reach enlightenment. Series creator Brian K. Vaughan said that Saga “is an original fantasy book with no superheroes, two non-white leads and an opening chapter featuring graphic robot sex. I thought we might be cancelled by our third issue.” The book is written by Vaughan (Runaways, Y: The Last Man, Lost) and has art by Fiona Staples (North 40, DV8: Gods and Monsters, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents) and despite Vaughan’s trepidation, it’s managed to put out 13 issues already, and the covers have been released up to issue 16 so far. It follows two star-crossed lovers (get it? because they’re in space) who run away from an interplanetary war to keep their newborn baby safe. Along the way they’re hunted by Prince Robot IV, who has to destroy them to regain his family honor in time to return for his wedding, and by a bounty hunter known as The Will, who undergoes great loss and soul searching. The characters are as real as they can be for a phantasmagoric scifi warzone.

The world-building in Saga is immense. Vaughan manages to give exposition very sneakily, which is great for science fiction. Staples’ art is fantastically done and it transitions between cosmic acid-trip and terrestrial realism very well. Saga is right now at the top of my favorite comics list, and with good reason. I’m ecstatic that it’s back and I can’t wait until next month. Vaughan had said in an interview with Time magazine that the returning Saga would carry “a big tonal shift – it’s part of the appeal of this book that Fiona and I can reinvent it every few issues.” After reading Saga #13 (don’t worry I won’t spoil anything for you) I think I can start seeing where some of that shift is going and I’m very excited.